By George This Was A Good Concert, Handel & Telemann, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Wigmore Hall, 4 May 2019

We love the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. We first saw them at The Wig many years ago and have seen them a good few times since, both in London and in Berlin.

We hadn’t seen this orchestra for a while, though, so we thought we’d see if we could get hot seats for this concert. We could.

In truth I was not familiar with the Handel Op. 3 Concerti Grossi; I don’t think they get all that much of an airing, being seen as somewhat composite or compilation works.

But in the hands of fine performers, such music is sheer delight, as demonstrated by this concert.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource on the concert.

This was our third visit to The Wig in just over a fortnight. In truth, I didn’t think we’d get our preferred seats for all of them but we did. NOT a complaint.

I was reminded of both of our other recent visits for a couple of silly reasons.

Our most recent visit had been The Orlando Consort singing 14th and 15th Century music:

Ullo John! Got A New Motet? – The Secrets Of Heaven, The Orlando Consort, Wigmore Hall, 25 April 2019

The in joke from that concert was that almost everyone involved with composing that 14th and 15th century English stuff was named John.

It occurred to me that a similar naming commonality could be applied to this baroque period, with the composers, the Hanoverian English kings and this evening’s conductor all named Georg/George.

The other recent visit was to see a Samuel Pepys themed concert performed by The Sixteen…

Music From The Chapel Royal With Excerpts From Pepys’ Diary, Wigmore Hall, 17 April 2019

…at which we were joined by Robin Simpson, experiencing The Wig and such music for the first time. At 91 going on 92, Robin demonstrated his remarkable observational skills when he remarked, the next time I saw him, that two recorder players were listed for The Sixteen at that Pepy’s concert, but there was no sign of either of them on the night.

I couldn’t explain their absence – perhaps some passing reader can. I guessed that there was a late decision to omit the recorders, perhaps due to the indisposition of one of the performers or perhaps, on Harry Christopher’s reflection, for artistic reasons.

Anyway, returning to the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin concert, once again there were two recorder players listed, but, come the interval, there had been no sign of recorders.

What on earth is going on in the world of baroque recorder players, I wondered. Is there some sort of censorship going on, whereby recorder players are being prevented from expressing themselves? Are the recorder players being kidnapped, imprisoned or worse?

The answer, at least in the matter of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin concert, came towards the end of the evening, when Anna Fusek put down her violin and picked up a recorder, which she played (beautifully, as did every player with every instrument that night) in the Soave from Telemann’s Canonic Sonata VI. Below is someone else’s recording of that sonata.

https://youtu.be/-twe0crDPPg

Below is a recording of Academy of St Martin In the Fields playing Handel’s Op 3 No 1 Concerto Grosso, by which time Michael Bosch had metaphorically bonked his oboe on the head and picked up a second recorder to join Anna. Recorder mystery fully solved.

If you haven’t seen the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin before…or even if you have…the following video should be a treat for you. They are playing Handel’s Water Music, under Georg Kallweit, who also led the orchestra at the 4 May 2019 concert.

They really are a top notch orchestra. Janie and I feel lucky and privileged to have seen them several times. This Handel/Telemann concert, while not the most exciting programme we have heard them play, was just the ticket for us at the end of a day of (similarly baroque) sporting activity.

Who Ate All The Pies? A Convivial Match Between Middlesex University Real Tennis Club (MURTC) & The MCC, 4 May 2019

Who Ate All The Pies? A Convivial Match Between Middlesex University Real Tennis Club (MURTC) & The MCC, 4 May 2019

Help!

I paraphrase the WhatsApp message I received from Carl Snitcher (Snitch) only 10 days before the match. I suspect I was one of quite a few people who got such a message from him that day.

The upshot was that Snitch was in the backveld of South Africa, doing valuable charitable works no doubt, while the far more crucial matter of arranging the MURTC v MCC real tennis match had slipped his mind.

I spotted an opportunity to get a bit of practice with my tournament doubles partner, Dominic Flint, if by chance Dominic was also available, which he was. Somehow, probably through methods and devices similarly arcane to my recruitment of Our Man Flint, Snitch managed to cobble together a team.

In any case, I have very much enjoyed playing this fixture several times previously:

Three Courts In One Day, 29 April 2017
A Week Dominated By Intense Middlesex v MCC Contests, 24, 27 & 28 April 2018

I have also represented the MCC in the home leg of this match a couple of times – a matter which went unreported on Ogblog a few months ago despite the nail-biting nature of the fixture, which (for once) the MCC won by the skin of its teeth.

No doubt the MURTC folk were hell-bent for revenge…

…except it isn’t actually that kind of fixture, as far as I can tell. The MURTC crowd are as convivial and friendly as any competitive sporting fixture can be. The eating, drinking and socialising seems to be a pretty important element.

To that end, step forward Catherine Hudson, who, together with John Harrington, put on a phenomenal spread for our fixture lunch, centred around several massive trays of The Pie Man’s phenomenal pies. A caterer well known to me – I think it was Angela Broad (coincidentally a former real tennis player from many years gone by) who put us in touch with the Pie Man himself, Murray Tollemache, when we first started catering Z/Yen events, 20 to 25 years ago.

The most difficult decision I had to make, soon after we arrived at about 12:15, was whether to eat before or after playing at 14:00. The smell and look of the food had my heart say “eat” , but my head said, “wait”. Head won.

Janie joined us, as she did last year, which helped with the congeniality of the day, not that these two teams need help. But Janie did take lots of video clips, through which I can show the progress of our rubber which was, if I might say so, a fine metaphor for the whole match, MCC-wise.

The little video below, titled “One For The Career Highlights Reel” is, um, one for the career highlights reel. Dominic with the magnificent winner.

https://youtu.be/05Kowd-jaCI

The next video might need some explanation for the uninitiated. The call of “up” tells your partner that you believe the ball will go above the dedans gallery and onto the back penthouse. The call of “yours” means that you want your partner to take the ball. Only very rarely have I had the opportunity to sat “up yours” to my partner descriptively. Of course I would never use those words expletively… not on the tennis court anyway.

https://youtu.be/YtqPHBOg23U
https://youtu.be/HHFOdw3lLSI

It was actually a very good game of tennis for most of the rubber, with the pendulum swinging one way and then the other.

https://youtu.be/F6Pgij8NmOw
https://youtu.be/GLIhpvIlqiU

But soon enough our rubber turned against us. Well played, Peter and Paul.

https://youtu.be/7_fZIJ7-5Fc

Were Dominic and I able to cope with our disappointment and rejoin the increasingly party-like atmosphere? Would we be able to digest our food after all of that excitement and the roller-coaster ride of sporting emotions?

Yes.

It really was a most enjoyable day. The teams get on really well, despite the fierceness of the competition on court, while the professionals (Chris Bray this time, Will Burns on my previous visits) make us visitors feel extremely welcome.

So I suspect that only two questions remain for the casual reader. Firstly, who won the fixture this time? Well, I think I planted enough clues in the text, but in any case, as they say in Las Vegas, “what happens in Hendon, stays in Hendon.”

The other question, normally delivered in song at sporting fixtures, is “who ate all the pies?” The answer, of course, “what happens in Hendon, stays in Hendon.”

Laughing At The Labyrinth, V&A, 3 May 2019

We have very much enjoyed our recent visits to the V&A, not least an afternoon a few weeks ago seeing the Mary Quant and Christian Dior…

A Double Dose Of Fashion: Mary Quant & Christian Dior, V&A, 5 April 2019

…and a couple of years ago enjoying on of the V&A’s “festival Fridays” while admiring the “Big Reveal” of new wing:

Two Visits To The V&A For The Exhibition Road Big Reveal, Plus Grayson Perry & The Pavilion At The Serpentine Gallery, Plus Pink Floyd and The V&A Reveal Festival, 26 and 30 June 2017

So we thought we’d enjoy this festival Friday focusing on British comedy and performance, while also taking in the new Cairo Streets display.

Ahead of time, I hadn’t thought about the irony of the V&A, perhaps the most labyrinthine of all UK museums, having a special display of photographs from the labyrinthine streets of a sprawling Middle-Eastern city such as Cairo.

But that irony was soon brought to the forefront of my mind as we tried and failed to find that Cairo Streets display. Two attempts at the information desk later (including one incident during which Janie and I also mislaid each other), the informed conclusion was that the display in question has been delayed and is not there yet. We have until April 2020 to find it, if indeed it ever shows up.

The closest to the maze of Cairo streets in the 1890s I can show you, dear reader, is some Maghrebi equivalents from the 1990s – click here or below for our photographs of Morocco:

001 8 November 1997 - Only mules and pedestrians allowed in these Fes streets M_J1_Photo (2)

The irony continued as we asked the kind woman at the information desk to direct us to the Laughing Matters Exhibition and she advised us to go to the third floor, pointing to a nearby staircase & lift.

After wandering what there is of the third and much of that end of the V&A’s second floor in vain, we asked a walkie-talkie-bearing attendant, who admitted to being clueless, but he could and did use his walkie-talkie to radio for help.

“First Floor”, came the garbled instruction from the walkie-talkie, “tell them to walk the British Renaissance 16th and 17th century and they can’t miss it”. We had walked that way before, of course, on previous visits. A bit too Mock Tudor for me, that 16th century section.

Anyway, we did reach Laughing Matters, which we couldn’t miss. Quite a small display, it is. I suppose there aren’t that many artefacts that can be deemed to be quintessentially British Comedy.

The Spitting Image of Mrs Thatcher was a highlight…that’s Mrs T in the display cabinet, not on the phone. Janie (on the phone) was listening to some of the many vox coms (voice of comedians) on such phones in the centre of the room. Some very interesting, many rather mundane. Also around the room were many quintessentially British comedy clips, such as “don’t tell him, Pike”, “don’t mention the war” and Babs Windsor’s bikini-boob-bursting scene from Carry On Camping. No mention of NewsRevue. Tish.

Can you get me a cab a bit sooner than that? I need to get out of here.

The one place in the V&A that Janie does know how to find without a map or a personal guide is the member’s cafe. That was to be our next stop.

Janie fancied some soupy, creamy courgettes, while I just nibbled some nuts with my tea – oooer, missus.

The one performance thing we fancied was a performance piece, in the new Hochhauser auditorium, named Within The Warren, a piece which heaped irony upon irony by satirising the labyrinthine nature of the V&A’s culture. I have oft suggested that organisational cultures tend to reflect some intrinsic element of the organisation – hospitals having an “accident and emergency” style culture, children’s charities having child-like elements in the meetings, etc.

So it came as no surprise to discover, through this lightweight, absurdist piece by Jessica Mullen, that an outsider finds the V&A impenetrable as an organisation.

Even the Q&A was somewhat bewildering, as the interviewer asked a couple of obscure questions and then threw the Q&A open to the floor, to find only one question…from me. Jessica Mullen batted back an answer in such an inscrutable manner, I imagine that she’ll be head-hunted for MI6…if she isn’t in there already.

The only other thing we fancied seeing was the small display on Japanese Seibu railway poster art.

“Stand clear of the doors”, Japanese poster art style…
…inspired by…

In any case, we’d not really explored the Japanese rooms before and thought we’d find the whole thing fascinating just six months after visiting Japan.

Japan Day Zero: Journey To Tokyo And Our First Evening There, 18 to 19 October 2018

Janie especially loved the Inrō (personal effects boxes)…

…and the netsuke (kimono toggles):

After that, we both felt exhausted, so we headed home to Noddyland. It was still so early that Janie was able to photograph some ducks on the Noddyland village pond – bless.

Ullo John! Got A New Motet? – The Secrets Of Heaven, The Orlando Consort, Wigmore Hall, 25 April 2019

You don’t get to hear a lot of 14th and 15th century English music, not even in the early music series at the Wigmore Hall. So this concert by The Orlando Consort looked well worth booking and indeed it was a superb concert.

The members of the consort each introduced chunks of the concert – all clearly knowledgeable fellows but wearing their learning lightly on the night.

Mark Dobell, for example, theorised that most of the English composers of the period were either named John or “anon”, when he announced a block of pieces in the second half of the concert. Even the composer known simply as Forest was probably John Forest, we were assured.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource for this concert.

Some of the names in the composer column might be a bit confusing. Roy Henry, for example, might be King Henry V, King Henry VI or just possibly King Henry IV. Trent Codices is not the name of a modern US composer, nor a fellow who opens the bowling for New Zealand, but a collection of musical manuscripts from the Italian city, Trent. Who knew?

If you want to hear and see some 15th century music performed by The Orlando Consort, the following video from a Library of Congress concert in 2017 might be for you. But it is mostly composers from mainland Europe, not English composers of the period, so no Johns. The music starts some 4’50” in:

Whereas, if you would like to hear some extracts from of The Orlando Consort singing the sort of English polyphony that we heard at the Wigmore Hall, then this short extract vid from a CD promo might be for you. You even get some John and anon: including some John Dunstaple:

The singing was beautiful throughout the concert and we sensed that this quartet of singers take great pleasure in singing this music and with each other.

The hall wasn’t full but it was quite busy. The “nice front row couple” that I quite often see at The Wig and SJSS were there in the front row, just fancy!, a few seats along from us. We chatted only briefly this time.

Janie and I hadn’t seen The Orlando Consort before, although we had probably seen most if not all four of the individuals in other choirs and consorts. Anyway, we most certainly will enjoy seeing them perform again if/when we get the chance.

Music From The Chapel Royal With Excerpts From Pepys’ Diary, Wigmore Hall, 17 April 2019

Russ London — (Russ London) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons

The combination of subject matter, music and the choice of performers for this concert made this a bit of a “must see” for me at the Wigmore Hall. Janie rarely graces that Hall on a Wednesday, as it is not so convenient for her after a surgery day, but on this occasion she felt motivated to join me.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource for this concert.

I have long been fascinated by Samuel Pepys as a character and as a diarist. Indeed, I nearly named this website “Poopys Diary” rather than Ogblog, as a nod to two of my favourite diaries, those of Messrs Pepys and Pooter.

I had followed with great interest Christopher Page’s Gresham lecture series on 16th and 17th century guitar, not least the lecture on Samuel Pepys and the Guitar:

Samuel Pepys The Guitarist, Gresham College, 16 May 2018

This concert seemed set to supplement that interest in the form of live performance.

Also motivated to come along was Robin Simpson, one of my nonagenarian friends from Lord’s who still plays real tennis – sometimes rather too well. When Robin mentioned, a few weeks earlier, that he is a member of the Samuel Pepys Club, I mentioned that we were going to this concert and Robin said he was unaware of it. I gave Robin the details. A day or two later I took an excited telephone call from Robin to tell me that he had got himself a ticket in the third row.

So when Janie and I got to “The Wig” just after 19:00 I was unsurprised to see Robin in the bar. We joined him and arranged some interval drinks. As Robin turned out to be a “Wigmore Hall virgin”, we acted as his guide, not least taking him into the hall through the quieter back stairs route that makes so much sense if you are sitting at the front of the hall.

I was especially keen to hear some of Pelham Humfrey’s music, as I had read about him but, to my knowledge, not previously seen any of his music performed.

The web is not awash with high quality Pelham Humfrey, but here is a link to a fine recording of O Lord My God from the 1960s, the Guildford Cathedral Choir – copyright prevents embedding this link but you can click and listen here.

Here is a link to a less-than-special but rather charming performance of By The Waters Of Babylon from a festival in Brazil:

It was also wonderful to see Elizabeth Kenny playing a couple of solo pieces on the five course guitar as well as her more familiar appearance with the theorbo. Elizabeth Kenny doesn’t play solos much, but I am able to find her charming 10 minute video-essay on the theorbo…

Sadly there don’t seem to be any vids of Elizabeth Kenny playing the five course guitar, but here is a video of Ramiro Morales playing some of the Francesco Corbetta we heard:

Another highlight was to hear Beauty Retire, a piece attributed to Samuel Pepys, not least because he mentions it several times in his diary, describing it as his own. In truth, Cesare Morelli seems to have had quite a lot to do with Beauty Retire and indeed all the pieces attributed to Pepys. Here and below is a recording of the song:

In truth, the whole concert felt like a highlight. The performances were uniformly excellent, as one might expect from Harry Christophers superb ensemble, The Sixteen, together with that fine actor, Michael Pennington, reading passages from Pepys.

The Sixteen are one of my favourite early music ensembles. They were one of the main “happening things” back in the late 1980s when I started listening to early music. I first got to see them live some 30 years ago when my old firm, Binders, sponsored one of their concerts:

Music At Oxford At The Sheldonian Theatre & Bodleian Library, 7 July 1989

Coincidentally, my first stage sighting of Michael Pennington, the fine actor who did the narration for the 2019 concert, was around the same time as my first sighting of The Sixteen.

Playing With Trains by Stephen Poliakoff, The Pit, 11 November 1989

But returning to the April 2019 concert, it was a superb evening of 17th century music and words. The audience was hugely appreciative at the end. There was a delightful encore too, but I didn’t recognise it and Harry Christophers didn’t announce it. If someone reading this can chime in with the name of the piece, I’d be grateful. I’d guess from the texture of the sound it was by Pelham Humfrey. Was it O The Sad Day? Have a listen; it’s lovely:

In any case, Janie, Robin and I all had a most enjoyable evening.

Theme Traders Tour And Music Jam With DJ, 16 April 2019

I always look forward to my music jams with DJ, but I was especially looking forward to this one, as DJ had promised me a guided tour around the new Theme Traders Production Village ahead of the jam.

I sure wasn’t disappointed. It is a really fun, interesting and unique place. The following video gives a feel for it, but does not show all of the most recent innovations:

On top of all of the extraordinary props, equipment and creative spaces I saw, there were two encounters, or I should say re-encounters, that will live long in my memory.

The first was with this fella:

DJ gave Janie a reclining Buddha just like this one, many years ago, suggesting that we place it in the garden at Sandall Close. We didn’t realise that it was one of a pair.

Our Buddha had mostly returned top the earth by the time Janie moved out of Sandall Close and I can now report that there is no trace of our Gautama left – the following picture taken 22 April showing the site where ours returned to the dust.

But the discovery of that memory-jogging Buddha was the least of it.

More bizarre still was the discovery, when we got deeper into the props collection and looked inside a large old decommissioned safe, inside which they keep, for some reason, an assortment of old gadgets and gizmos.

There in the centre of the middle shelf was a spool of 9.5 mm cine film…

…with my Dad’s handwriting on it:

How an old spool from Dad’s shop has ended up in the Theme Traders props collection is a bit of a mystery. I do know that, when dad was shutting up shop, DJ bought up some of dad’s old stuff. But that was over 30 years ago when DJ was running “the Boffin Shop”; prior to Theme Traders even starting.

DJ doesn’t recall taking much if anything of that “boffin” kind across to Theme Traders back then. In any case, the chances of any item surviving that long – let alone finding pride of place on display rather than buried in storage as part of their giant collection, are minuscule.

It fair made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, seeing Dad’s unmistakable writing. Not only that, but a rare mistake of dad’s too. On the side and on the top Dad had written “The Pawnbroker”, but he also added on the top ‘Shop’, perhaps recognising that the name of the film is actually The Pawnshop”.

The irony of the discovery of that spool and the content of this film – some parts of the Pawnshop depicted look a bit like the Theme Traders props department – was not wasted on me. Well worth seeing the film (below) if you’ve never seen it.

https://youtu.be/8g3803sAfkE

I had never seen the film before, because we had no projector for that old 9.5mm gauge – that’s almost certainly why dad simply disposed of the film as I collected the 8mm items he hadn’t sold. Still have a box of them in the attic somewhere.

The music jam almost seemed like an anticlimax after all of that…

…except of course it never is an anticlimax to have fun making music.

DJ and I tried out my new rishas – plectra intended for ouds but Ian Pittaway has recommended that I use a cut version for medieval music, as they used a quill-like plectrum back then. DJ meanwhile thought the sound would be great for some of his jazz music work.

We mostly played 60s and 70s popular music this time, once I had demonstrated the medieval.

DJ and I bickered as usual as to who should be Major Tom and who should be Ground Control when we have a go at Space Oddity. As usual we ended up both trying each of the roles.

We tried some new material too. We’ll work on Valerie and Jesamine next time – songwise I mean. We also tried Daisy Bell, so that Daisy won’t be too jealous when she finds out about Valerie and Jesamine.

We also ate and drank…as always it was a really relaxing and pleasant evening.

Inspired By The Sistine Chapel, The Tallis Scholars, St John’s Smith Square, 14 April 2019

Hanging about in that part of Westminster is becoming a habit. The Abbey on the Friday…

A Gresham Society Visit To Westminster Abbey Library & Muniment Room, Plus The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, 12 April 2019

…and that was not even my first visit of the week to Dean’s Yard…

…then this wonderful Tallis Scholars concert at the start of the St John’s Smith Square (SJSS) Holy Week Festival.

It is hard to explain why, as non-religious people, this type of religious music works so well for me and Janie. I suppose it is simply because we love the music of that Renaissance period and the finest music from the period tends to be the sacred rather than the secular music.

Janie and I enjoyed a pre concert and an interval drink in the crypt, a venue which Janie always enjoys. Great to see something close to a full house at SJSS too; we don’t so often see that, sadly. The place seems warmer when full.

Here is a link to the SJSS resources on this concert. For those who don’t wish to click, the main take away from that material is that this concert showcases music that was guarded by Popes during the high Renaissance within the confines of the Sistine Chapel.

Lots of Palestrina with the magnificent Allegri Miserere as the highlight to kick off the second half of the gig.

Here is a beautiful video of The Tallis Scholars performing the Miserere, albeit some 25 years ago:

As in that 1994 version, at our concert several of the voices spread out across the concert hall, to give an intriguing surround-sound effect.

Below, from that same 1994 concert I believe, is some Palestrina, Nunc Dimittis, not one of the pieces we heard in April 2019:

The Tallis Scholars are always top notch – so professional and such marvellous voices. We hadn’t seen them for a while…

The Tallis Scholars: Isaac and Mouton, Wigmore Hall, 9 March 2017

…the last time we saw them I picked up from the encore the delightful Heinrich Isaac song, Innsbruck Ich Muss Dich Lassen, for my Gresham Society performance that year:

Gresham Society Soirée, Barnards Inn Hall, 14 December 2017

No such simplicity in April 2019 – The Tallis Scholars encore was Lotti’s Crucifixus for eight voices. At least seven-and-three-quarter voices above my pay grade.

Here is another mob, confusingly named Tallis Vocalis, all performing that lovely Lotti at an appropriate pay grade:

The Tallis Scholars concert we enjoyed 14 April 2019 was a simply lovely concert. If you ever get a chance to see them, we really do recommend them highly.

A Gresham Society Visit To Westminster Abbey Library & Muniment Room, Plus The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, 12 April 2019

As if I don’t spend enough time hanging around this part of Westminster, I found myself, for the second time in 24 hours, hanging around in Dean’s Yard. But this time I was on a half-holiday, awaiting a tour of the Westminster Abbey Library & Muniment Room, with my friends from The Gresham Society.

The Library Collection is described through this link – click here.

The Muniment Collection is described through this link – click here or the image below, which depicts the Muniment Room and is copied from the linked page for the purposes of linking back to that page.

We were such a large group that we needed to be split in two. I wondered whether to mention Solomon at the point that Tony Trowles, Head of Collections and our principal guide for the afternoon, suggested an even division of the group. But I thought better of that Old Testament reference in the particular setting of the Westminster Abbey Library.

If you want a general background/introduction to Westminster Abbey, btw, you could do a lot worse than the Wikipedia entry – click here.

Anyway, my half of the group went with Matthew Payne to see the Muniment Room first. I think the more conventional way is to see the Library first, perhaps because the Muniment Room is seen to be the highlight.

In reality, I found the whole tour a highlight.

It was fascinating to see the Muniment Room, it’s storage chests some of which are 800 or so years old, it’s extraordinary mural of Richard II’s white hart and it’s stunning views across the Abbey.

But it was also fascinating to have Tony show us the Library and learn all about its transformation from a Benedictine monks’ dormitory into a theological library.

Further, some of the artefacts on show in the library were quite simply breathtaking. An Edward The Confessor writ, for example, which they are almost 100% certain is genuine (there is doubt over some of the oldest relics), made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Public domain image borrowed, as permitted, from Wikipedia, with credit and referencing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Confessor#/media/File:Edward_the_Confessor_sealed_writ.jpg

After our private tour – even among Gresham friends it seemed extremely cosy in places – the wide-open spaces of the new Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries seemed liberating.

The stroll and climb to the galleries was enjoyable in itself – around Poets’ Corner at ground level and then a charming new staircase with gorgeous views across to the Palace Of Westminster. What a shame to think of the shambles that is the political mayhem going on in that historic place at the moment.

But then the new galleries and the stunning exhibits on show, well set out for ease of navigation and all very well labelled/described.

While Westminster Abbey prohibits photography within its confines unless you buy a licence to do so, it does provide excellent imagery for those beyond its confines, such as these excellent short videos about the new tower and galleries. First up, the climb up the stairs of the tower:

Next up, the galleries themselves, described extremely well by the curator, the Dean and also Tony Trowles, who guided our library tour:

On seeing these wonderful artefacts with my Gresham Society friends, I felt a burst of communal, almost cult-like enthusiasm, that reminded me of our Gresham Society visit to the London Mithraeum last year:

The London Mithraeum With The Gresham Society, 15 March 2018

I wondered, briefly, whether the cult of Mithras (see above) or the Cult of Saint Edward The Confessor (yes, really, Westminster Abbey owes a great deal of its character to Henry III’s attachment to that cult) would be the preferred cult for us Gresham Society types.

I took some soundings…some might call it a mini-referendum…which was a very close run thing; 52%-48% approximately. As a heated, perhaps irreconcilable debate broke out amongst this group of hitherto convivial Gresham Society friends, I thought best to take my leave of the group swiftly.

For all I know, the remnants of the Gresham Society might still be debating the relative merits of their preferred cults in The Westminster Arms; at least, that’s where most of the group (or should I now describe it as a brace of warring factions) was last seen at the time of writing.

In truth, it was a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable afternoon out. Once again, thanks to Tim Connell for leading our field trips…also to Basil Bezuidenhout and others for helping to organise them.

A Few Hours Of Cricket Followed By Two Hours Of Tennis, Lord’s, 11 April 2019

I very often take in the whole of the first day of the cricket season at Lord’s, most often with Charles “Charley The Gent Malloy” Bartlett, e.g. last year…

Lord’s-related Lunches 6 & 10 April 2018, Then Middlesex v Northants Day One, Lord’s, 13 April 2018

…but this year the date didn’t work for either of us – in my case because I needed to be in Westminster until about 14:30 that day.

I thought that Escamillo Escapillo might be able to join me for a couple of hours later that day, not least because his beloved Lancashire would be at play, but he too was committed elsewhere all day.

But I had arranged to play tennis at Lord’s that evening, so I packed a good book along with my tennis kit and work necessities and headed off to the ground as soon as my work commitments allowed me. I got to Lord’s just before 15:00; with some 45 overs still to play, that would be nearly half a day of cricket before my tennis.

Result…

…by which I mean, a result for me.

Not a result in the match, obviously, which is designed to last four days (he says for the less cricket aware who might have stumbled across this piece in search of enlightenment).

I dropped my tennis things in the dressing room and took to the middle balcony for a while, but I was wicked cold in the shade there and enviously eyed up the sunny spot at the junction of the Grandstand and the Compton Stand, where I had re-read The Price Of Fish last season, as reported on King Cricket:

Books to read at the cricket? The Price of Fish by Ian Harris and Michael Mainelli

From that very spot, in the bright, chilly-yet-tolerable sunshine, I was able to take a picture of Jimmy Anderson bowling to Eoin Morgan. Not bad, I thought at the time, for a second division fixture in April.

Jimmy Bowling To Eoin

For the uninitiated, I should point out that the pitch was located on the northern side of the square, so the southern stands (pictured) were unpopulated, whereas there was a fair crowd in the Grandstand and its fellow north-side stands.

When the sun cruelly abandoned my sunny spot, it immediately went from feeling bearably chilly to unbearably chilly, so I relocated back to the pavilion, taking up a seat in the unusually but unsurprisingly crowded Writing Room (north side, behind glass).

There I read a bit and bumped into some friends/acquaintances, not least Phil. I would previously have described Phil as an Australian with whom I occasionally play real tennis, but he turns out to be a Lancashire supporter who was born in Jimmy Anderson’s home town of Burnley. Phil went to Australia as a child and relocated to the UK some years ago. Phil kindly bought me a soft drink and we chatted cricket for the first time – our previous conversations having been diverse but, in the matter of sport, solely real tennis related.

Phil will henceforth become known as “The Burnley Bradman” for Ogblog and King Cricket pseudonym purposes.

After stumps, I needed to warm up a bit – we had taken our soft drinks on the balcony of the Bowlers’ Bar. So I read inside for a while and then did a long stretching session before playing tennis.

I had, perhaps foolishly, consented to play an additional hour after my 19:00 scheduled hour, as one of the 20:00 fellows had pulled out at short notice. Two hours of singles is a bit much at my age, especially as the 20:00 dude turned out to be a 29 year-old who had played to a pretty decent level when at University.

Actually the two hour slot worked out pretty well for me. The first hour was against a relative newbie to whom I had to give an infeasibly large handicap. He is clearly very able, just inexperienced, so it made for a fascinating battle which ended up just about even-stevens, with him pipping the first set 6-5 and me just ahead 2-1 in the second when we stopped. The second match, against the youngster, I thought I did surprisingly well, given his age, provenance and the meagre handicap I was allowed; I won 6-2 6-5, the second set being a real nail-biter.

Hopefully my technique has come on since this picture was taken in autumn 2016.

A Get together With Ashley Fletcher In Finsbury Park, 10 April 2019

Our getting together was long overdue; it’s been a good few years. Mostly because Ashley doesn’t travel to London all that much and my visits to Manchester have been few and irritatingly poorly timed for Ashley’s availability.

After our recent attempt on my visit to Manchester in March went awry…

Two Nights In Manchester, 12 to 14 March 2019

…we redoubled our efforts, not least because Ashley was due in London just a few weeks later. So I kept the late afternoon/early evening free awaiting further instructions from Ashley.

He suggested an early dinner at La Fabrica in Finsbury Park. I arranged to meet Ashely at The Terrace Cafe, situated between his hotel and the restaurant, enabling me to do the cross town hike ahead of the rush hour and get some reading done while I waited for Ashley.

Picture from the Hackney Gazette – click the pic for an interesting article about this cafe.

For a while, earlier in the day, I wondered whether our plans might come to nought. Ashley was down in London for a friend’s citizenship ceremony and celebration. Ashley sent me the following pictures and note from The Landmark

– May be slightly squify

I’ve heard of Champagne Socialists, but a Champagne Anarchist?

Anyway, Ashley turned up at The Terrace at the appointed hour seemingly not the worse for wear. He had a soft drink there, though, while I had a juice rather than a second coffee.

Then on to La Fabrica, which was a great choice of place. We tried several tapas, including scallops with chorizo, cod croquettes, Iberico loin with apples, Iberico ribs, prawns in a yummy sauce…

…washed down with a rather yummy garnache/carignon wine.

Unfortunately, Ashley was quite incapable of contributing to the Don Giovanni story from 1989…

Don Giovanni, English National Opera, London Coliseum, 10 June 1989

…to such an extent that he claims not even to remember being there. Bobbie will not be impressed.

Still, Ashley and I did have a very good chat/catch up. Not only that; Ashley and I also had a good go at resolving some of the UK and the world’s problems.

Unfortunately, though, one evening was not enough to actually solve any of those major world problems. Maybe next time. And hopefully next time won’t be years and years away.